העיתון הרשמי של סין פרסם מאמר דעה תומך של לברון ג'יימס, נציגיו של ג'יימס: הכדורסלן לא כתב את המאמר

In an unprecedented move, China state-run media published an op-ed under NBA star LeBron James' name, but reports citing his representatives say that LeBron never wrote it. They claim that he only answered a few questions during press stops in China. It all began with an article on People's Daily titled, Basketball is the Bridge Connecting Each Other, featuring LeBron James as its author. Written in the NBA player's tone, the article expressed how much LeBron adores his Chinese fans and that he hopes to contribute to China's basketball industry. It ended by noting, quote, the author is a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, and said the paper's reporter handled the summary and translation. This article and the news about LeBron's contribution to People's Daily has been widely spread across China, but it drew criticism in the Western media circle. Many reports point to NBA and LeBron's records of siding with China over the communist regime's human rights issues. A day later, the Associated Press and others changed their narratives. They denied any interactions between LeBron and the People's Daily, claiming the comments were put together from various group interviews. David Zhang, host of China Insider, weighs in. It's good to know for those watching that the CCP's media narrative twisting of this event is something that's worth mentioning. So it's not just to fault LeBron James, but also we have to be very careful of the media manipulation that's been taking place from the CCP. According to Sports Business Journal, NBA's China Brants was worth $5 billion back in 2019. Star players like LeBron James and Steph Curry also have investments in the country. But all those green dollar signs were at risk of vanishing in 2019. That year, Beijing launched another crackdown on Hong Kong's free speech and human rights, and one NBA manager spoke out. In 2019, we all remember that Houston Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey, was voicing his support for the democracy protesters in Hong Kong. And that led to partially or maybe fully the suspension of NBA broadcast on Chinese platforms. The NBA saw its Chinese business partners suspend contracts and its products boycotted nationwide despite the league's apologies. Retaliation gradually eased between 2020 and 2022, but the NBA's business in China still hasn't fully recovered. The CCP likes to use foreign model celebrities and influencers to project its own agenda or words that they want to be told to the international stage. So it's no secret that somebody like LeBron James, who has a previous record of speaking on behalf of the CCP, or at least attempting to agree with some of the points from the CCP, is somebody that's perfectly a good candidate for the CCP to use to project the CCP's agenda. From retaliating against an NBA employee's freedom of speech to reportedly misleading its viewers about LeBron's so-called op-ed, the Chinese Communist Party has shown the West time and again that working with Beijing is a deal of no loss, no gain. This comes as the NBA works to rebuild its ties with China.